New £15 million grant scheme to improve mental healthcare

The Beyond Places of Safety fund will focus on improving urgent mental healthcare in local areas

The Department of Health has launched a £15 million fund to better support people at risk of experiencing a mental health crisis.

The Beyond Places of Safety scheme will improve support services for those needing urgent and emergency mental healthcare. This includes conditions such as psychosis, bipolar disorder, and personality disorders that could cause people to be a risk to themselves or others.

• preventing people from reaching crisis point in the first place• helping to develop new approaches to support people who experience a mental health crisis

Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health, said:

"As part of the government’s commitment to improving mental health throughout society, we are determined to go further to help people who are experiencing a crisis or feel they are approaching one.

"We want make sure that therapeutic and empathetic support is in place to stop people falling ill, support them through crisis and help them recover."

Jackie Doyle-Price, Minister for Mental Health said:

"There can be few experiences more frightening and disorientating than mental health crisis, and I commend the teams already providing brilliant support with help from our previous grant scheme.

"This additional funding will give local areas scope to do even more, and I look forward to seeing lots of innovative ideas for improving urgent and emergency mental healthcare across the country."

The launch of the Beyond Places of Safety fund follows a £15 million investment in the Improving Places of Safety scheme, which aims to reduce the number of people who end up in a police cell following detention under the Mental Health Act.